Steve Hansen took a swipe at the British and Irish Lions' bid to become the world's best forward pack after the All Blacks' rampant first Test victory yesterday morning.
New Zealand strangled the Lions at the scrum and lineout, demolishing the tourists' plans to dominate the tight exchanges in their 30-15 win at Auckland's Eden Park.
Assistant coach Steve Borthwick had challenged the Lions to become the best forward pack on the planet to stand a chance against the world champion All Blacks. Boss Warren Gatland wanted the Lions to "suffocate" New Zealand, but in the end the tourists were comprehensively bested in the physicality stakes.
"I always find it amusing when people tell us they are going to beat us up in the tight five," said Hansen. "We can play down and dirty rugby too if we have to. And I mean down and dirty in the most respectful way.
"I thought our tight-five were very, very good. If the tight five do the job everyone else can play.
"Tonight's Test was always going to be won in the tight five. We won that battle, but that doesn't guarantee that will happen next week.
"We've got to be extremely proud of what they did. You don't become the number one side in the world without having a quality tight five."
Full debutant Rieko Ioane bagged a try brace with hooker Codie Taylor steaming into the corner for another score, as the All Blacks subdued the Lions.
Sean O'Brien capped an 80-metre break for a stunning Lions score that All Blacks boss Hansen dubbed "one of the best Test tries I've ever seen".
Rhys Webb also crossed at the death for the tourists, who produced some sparkling counter-attacking play - but lost out as their strength up front deserted them.
The first Test became a role reversal in styles then, the All Blacks rejecting their fluent offloading game in a bid to get the job done - and the Lions conjuring some serious flair, but without the grunt work required for a win.
All Blacks full-back Ben Smith failed a Head Injury Assessment, while Ryan Crotty picked up a hamstring injury and could miss the rest of the series.
Gatland admitted the tourists simply have to harden up in their tight five to stand any chance of reversing this major setback.
"We need to be much more physical next week for the All Blacks; that was disappointing," said Gatland. "The All Blacks sacked our mauls very well; we need to negate that. And there was one scrum that's caught us as well. And there's several areas where we need to be better at the set-piece.
"The All Blacks tight five were very good, but we need to be tough on ourselves and honest in our performance.
"A lot of those things are fixable. We know what to expect for next week."
Insisting the Lions can still hit back against the imperious All Blacks, Gatland took a mild swing at New Zealand's prosaic approach.
Asked if the Lions can still force a close series, Gatland replied: "Absolutely, I thought we created some great chances, played some lovely rugby and scored some nice tries. And the All Blacks haven't exactly played champagne rugby and thrown the ball all over the place.
"There were a couple of golden moments that we could have taken and we just switched off when they caught us on a quick tap penalty for a try. Elliot Daly said he got caught in no man's land there.
"And from a kick the ball's gone through Liam Williams' hands. That's fixable. And the other try is from a scrum advantage where we missed a first-up tackle. We'd come under a bit of pressure in the first half. If we'd scored after half-time that's 13-13.
"That's an interesting take on the game."
Taulupe Faletau also echoed the positivity from his coach in the face of convincing defeat, insisting the Lions can fend off both the weight of history and the mighty All Blacks to win their Test series.
The Lions have only ever overturned a 1-0 series deficit on two occasions - in Australia in 1899 and again in 1989 - and have still only won one series in New Zealand, in 1971. The back-to-back world champion All Blacks extended their Eden Park unbeaten run to 39 games, and could swipe the series with victory at Wellington's Westpac Stadium on Saturday.
But despite all the obstacles in their path, number eight Faletau remains adamant the Lions can storm to victory.
"We still believe we're capable of winning the next game and getting what we want out of this tour, which is the series win," said Faletau. "We've got to go back to the drawing board to solve a few issues.
"But there's no need to panic, we just need to get our basics right, holding onto the ball.
"It's tough against the world champions. It's not going to be easy, but we'll work hard for it."
The Lions will now face the Hurricanes in Wellington on Tuesday before next weekend's second Test.
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